Max Miller

WADSWORTH, Ohio - Former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci on Wednesday disputed a widely disseminated report that he is mulling a bid for the congressional seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Max Miller.

After Axios published the article, Renacci says he called Miller to tell him, “that story is not true.”

“This is Max Miller’s seat,” Renacci told cleveland.com on Wednesday. “Max Miller is not leaving. If Max Miller would leave and ask me to step in and help, I would consider it, but I’m not out there looking to get in because it’s his seat.”

Miller is embroiled in a child-custody dispute with his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, who has accused Miller of physical and emotional abuse. Her father, Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Westlake, has called on Miller to leave the race and said he fails “any basic standards of character required to hold elected office.”

Related: Max Miller invokes Trump’s 2016 comeback story to explain why he won’t quit Congressional race

The Democratic Women’s Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, whose leaders include Akron Democrat Emilia Sykes, called for Miller’s resignation on Wednesday. The House Ethics Committee announced it is investigating allegations that Miller “may have engaged in domestic violence and abuse or illegal drug use.” Miller says he requested the ethics probe to clear his name.

Miller says the allegations are false and he expects to win re-election much as President Donald Trump won the White House in 2016 after setbacks that included the release of an audio tape where Trump made vulgar remarks about women.

“I’m not getting out of this race, and I’m winning in November,” the Bay Village Republican said in an “X” livestream on Sunday that lasted more than 15 minutes.

Renacci, a former Wadsworth mayor who regularly expressed frustration with congressional dysfunction when he served there between 2011 and 2019, says his fellow Republicans have asked if he’d consider returning if Miller leaves the race.

Renacci’s old district included much of the turf that currently comprises Miller’s district: Medina and Ashland counties, northern Wayne County, and southern and western parts of Cuyahoga County. Renacci left office to run for Ohio governor in 2018, but switched to the U.S. Senate race, where he was defeated by incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown.

Even though the district demographically favors Republicans, Renacci said it would be tough for any Republican candidate to step in if Miller dropped out, raise money, and assemble a campaign team less than 90 days before November’s election.

“Even with my history in the district, this is a very daunting task,” he said.

Renacci says that many people in the district haven’t heard anything about Miller’s marital problems, and his odds of surviving the controversy “depends on what happens between now and November” as well as any national headwinds Republicans will face.

“Right now, I think people aren’t aware of it,” Renacci said of the abuse allegations. “People are tired of politics. The people that are aware of it are sick of it.”

Renacci said some women he has talked with are standing behind Miller. Others, he said, are not.

“But then, when I say, ‘OK, if he stays in and you have a choice between a guy who is a Democratic socialist, or him? Who are you voting for?’ They say ‘Wow! Then I’m going to vote for Max’,” Renacci said.